Pondering Through Lent

The season of Lent is a time for considering life and death as it has been transformed by God’s covenant with us. Our destination, Easter Sunday, sets the context for our whole journey. Each of our stops along the way are tempered and shaped by that destination as are our ponderings. How are our lives shaped by that destination right now? How do we understand our own sinfulness and live in response to the new possibilities of life God has laid before us?

While, I do hope that our ponderings will shape how we live, I also believe it is necessary for us to put to words what we believe and how what we believe affects our actions. Living the Christian Life, remember, has 3 aspects: believing, trusting, and doing.

So, here are some of the things I am pondering as I journey through Lent this year:

First, I am a witness to the resurrection. Obviously I wasn’t there on the first Resurrection Sunday, nonetheless I am a witness. Aside from being a recipient of the story I have also been in a few places of death and found life. Because I am a Christian, I know that life is stronger than death and that death does not have the final say on my destiny, or the destiny of the universe. I can love life and not fear death.

Another pondering is that even at my deepest moments of pain and in my darkest night there is a love for me that is stronger than even my self-loathing or the loathing of others. I am created in the image of God and loved by the creator of everything around me. I can face those moments of pain and darkness with hope; when all is lost, nothing is lost. God does not want me to suffer and even hurts with me (even if my suffering is by my own hand).

I am also challenged by that very notion, by my faith. If I am created in the image so also is my neighbor and my enemy. God does not desire their suffering either. When others are in pain I am called by the author of the universe to help. God has created us to be in relationships with each other and creation – we are designed to help each other.

I encourage you to carry your passports with you throughout the week. Put them in your purse or in the fold of your wallet, in your pocket with your car keys or another place where your hand might brush up against it. When you notice it, continue your pondering. Take it out; see where you have been thus far on the journey to Easter Sunday. See also where we have yet to go together. This week, think about those other voices that vie for our attention. Are there voices that we listen to (remember the connection between listening and obeying) that draw us away from Jesus? How can we listen more fully to Jesus to better live the Christian life?

Shalom Y'all!